Quit yer bitchin'. That's my job.

Entries tagged with rant

I've been reading a lot in the press about entire families being snuffed out in murder-suicides. In one of them, apparently both parents- after losing their jobs- decided it was a better option to off their children and themselves. Things like this make me cock my head to the side and say, "Wait, what?"

Don't get me wrong, I know about stress and feeling like there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully I had the spring of 1993 to teach me differently. For those of you who weren't around for this era, it's pretty self-explanatory. Nana killed himself in the nastiest part of winter, on December 6, 1992. In his eyes, there was no way out. There was no better tomorrow. If had stuck around for another 3 or 4 months, things would have been different. Spring came, options presented themselves, and the world began to shift ever so slightly. If only he'd had the nuts to stick it out until spring, we could have watched the world transform, like it does every year.

The economy sucks. Jobs are hard to come by, and more people are getting laid off every day. Folks are losing their houses to foreclosure. Sometimes, it seems really, really bleak. But there's always a next spring, and a next spring after that one. All it takes is the choice to make due with less for now, the tenacity to look for help, and the humility to accept it when offered. And for the love of jebus, if you're so chicken shit that you decide to bow out, please don't take your munchkins with you. They still have a chance at a good life, and you have no right to take that from them.

On a completely unrelated note, can someone scrounge me a "Wait, what?" icon? I don't want to steal wiley_b's, but I also don't want one of a small, stoned feline (which is all I can seem to find in the innertubz).

I've been reading a lot in the press about entire families being snuffed out in murder-suicides. In one of them, apparently both parents- after losing their jobs- decided it was a better option to off their children and themselves. Things like this make me cock my head to the side and say, "Wait, what?"

Don't get me wrong, I know about stress and feeling like there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully I had the spring of 1993 to teach me differently. For those of you who weren't around for this era, it's pretty self-explanatory. Nana killed himself in the nastiest part of winter, on December 6, 1992. In his eyes, there was no way out. There was no better tomorrow. If had stuck around for another 3 or 4 months, things would have been different. Spring came, options presented themselves, and the world began to shift ever so slightly. If only he'd had the nuts to stick it out until spring, we could have watched the world transform, like it does every year.

The economy sucks. Jobs are hard to come by, and more people are getting laid off every day. Folks are losing their houses to foreclosure. Sometimes, it seems really, really bleak. But there's always a next spring, and a next spring after that one. All it takes is the choice to make due with less for now, the tenacity to look for help, and the humility to accept it when offered. And for the love of jebus, if you're so chicken shit that you decide to bow out, please don't take your munchkins with you. They still have a chance at a good life, and you have no right to take that from them.

On a completely unrelated note, can someone scrounge me a "Wait, what?" icon? I don't want to steal wiley_b's, but I also don't want one of a small, stoned feline (which is all I can seem to find in the innertubz).

VACAVILLE, Calif. -- A teacher's gender reassignment surgery has caught the attention of some parents who want to know why the school district didn't notify them ahead of time about the change.

A music teacher at Foxboro Elementary School, who was formerly a woman, returned to school as a man at the beginning of the school year.

The teacher, who was not identified by KCRA 3, is now being addressed as "Mister."

Some parents told Travis Unified School District that they feel like their rights to know were violated.[snip]

Rights to know? If I start having sex with other women, should I send home a newsletter? If I had a double mastectomy, should there be a memo to the parents? Should I post on a billboard that I'm actively trying to get pregnant? (none of these things are true, before any of you get talking)No, of course not. You, as a parent, have NO RIGHT to know what I do with my own body, or why. Gender does not at all affect one's ability to teach, and so is no one's business but the individual who was reassigned. God, stuff like this pisses me off.People make me sick.

VACAVILLE, Calif. -- A teacher's gender reassignment surgery has caught the attention of some parents who want to know why the school district didn't notify them ahead of time about the change.

A music teacher at Foxboro Elementary School, who was formerly a woman, returned to school as a man at the beginning of the school year.

The teacher, who was not identified by KCRA 3, is now being addressed as "Mister."

Some parents told Travis Unified School District that they feel like their rights to know were violated.[snip]

Rights to know? If I start having sex with other women, should I send home a newsletter? If I had a double mastectomy, should there be a memo to the parents? Should I post on a billboard that I'm actively trying to get pregnant? (none of these things are true, before any of you get talking)No, of course not. You, as a parent, have NO RIGHT to know what I do with my own body, or why. Gender does not at all affect one's ability to teach, and so is no one's business but the individual who was reassigned. God, stuff like this pisses me off.People make me sick.

No matter how far into the 21st century we travel, there remains this pig-headed religious wrong "right" who screams about the injustice of allowing human beings who love each other to enjoy the same freedoms as their heterosexual counterparts.They seem to think that their religion "invented" marriage, and therefore has sole rights to club membership. All of the excuses "reasons" they provide to support their protest of gay marriage are based upon this flawed assumption.

No matter how far into the 21st century we travel, there remains this pig-headed religious wrong "right" who screams about the injustice of allowing human beings who love each other to enjoy the same freedoms as their heterosexual counterparts.They seem to think that their religion "invented" marriage, and therefore has sole rights to club membership. All of the excuses "reasons" they provide to support their protest of gay marriage are based upon this flawed assumption.

"Perhaps the point is this: Why does this sort of bizarre hyperbreeding only seem to afflict antiseptic megareligious families from the Midwest? In other words -- assuming Michelle and Jim Bob and their massive brood of cookie-cutter Christian kidbots will all be, as the charming photo suggests, never allowed near a decent pair of designer jeans or a tolerable haircut from a recent decade, and assuming that they will all be tragically encoded with the values of the homophobic asexual Christian right -- where are the forces that shall help neutralize their effect on the culture? Where is the counterbalance, to offset the damage?

Where is, in other words, the funky tattooed intellectual poetess who, along with her genius anarchist husband, is popping out 16 funky progressive intellectually curious fashion-forward pagan offspring to answer the Duggar's squad of über-white future Wal-Mart shoppers? Where is the liberal, spiritualized, pro-sex flip side? Verily I say unto thee, it ain't lookin' good.

Perhaps this the scariest aspect of our squishy birthin' tale: Maybe the scales are tipping to the neoconservative, homogenous right in our culture simply because they tend not to give much of a damn for the ramifications of wanton breeding and environmental destruction and pious sanctimony, whereas those on the left actually seem to give a whit for the health of the planet and the dire effects of overpopulation."

I think that right there actually sums up my mind over the past few years. I'd love to be the counter-balance, popping out a half dozen munchkins in a vain attempt to offset the sheer number of whack-job, religious fundamentalist fascists out there. If only A.) I could find myself a nice genius anarchist who wants to settle down and have babies and B.) I didn't give a shit about the fact that our planet is very quickly running out of arable land.Frak.That woman has an addiction. What she needs is some counseling and a tubal ligation. I feel sorry for the kids who are to be raised by their siblings, seeing Mom and Dad as people who provide food and shelter, and occasionally 5 seconds of attention... when they can remember the child's name. I come from an Irish Catholic family, so I know big families, but if you need to enlist help to take care of the kids you have on a daily basis, it's too much.

"Perhaps the point is this: Why does this sort of bizarre hyperbreeding only seem to afflict antiseptic megareligious families from the Midwest? In other words -- assuming Michelle and Jim Bob and their massive brood of cookie-cutter Christian kidbots will all be, as the charming photo suggests, never allowed near a decent pair of designer jeans or a tolerable haircut from a recent decade, and assuming that they will all be tragically encoded with the values of the homophobic asexual Christian right -- where are the forces that shall help neutralize their effect on the culture? Where is the counterbalance, to offset the damage?

Where is, in other words, the funky tattooed intellectual poetess who, along with her genius anarchist husband, is popping out 16 funky progressive intellectually curious fashion-forward pagan offspring to answer the Duggar's squad of über-white future Wal-Mart shoppers? Where is the liberal, spiritualized, pro-sex flip side? Verily I say unto thee, it ain't lookin' good.

Perhaps this the scariest aspect of our squishy birthin' tale: Maybe the scales are tipping to the neoconservative, homogenous right in our culture simply because they tend not to give much of a damn for the ramifications of wanton breeding and environmental destruction and pious sanctimony, whereas those on the left actually seem to give a whit for the health of the planet and the dire effects of overpopulation."

I think that right there actually sums up my mind over the past few years. I'd love to be the counter-balance, popping out a half dozen munchkins in a vain attempt to offset the sheer number of whack-job, religious fundamentalist fascists out there. If only A.) I could find myself a nice genius anarchist who wants to settle down and have babies and B.) I didn't give a shit about the fact that our planet is very quickly running out of arable land.Frak.That woman has an addiction. What she needs is some counseling and a tubal ligation. I feel sorry for the kids who are to be raised by their siblings, seeing Mom and Dad as people who provide food and shelter, and occasionally 5 seconds of attention... when they can remember the child's name. I come from an Irish Catholic family, so I know big families, but if you need to enlist help to take care of the kids you have on a daily basis, it's too much.

We showed the 8th grade The Day After Tomorrow last week (this means I had to watch the whole movie through 3 times). It's gotten me thinking about climate changes, and how abrupt they can be. And now this has started worrying me more than I already had been...

"Some 220 square miles of ice has collapsed in Antarctica and an ice shelf about the size of Connecticut is 'hanging by a thread,' the British Antarctic Survey said Tuesday, blaming global warming."..."I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread -- we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be."

---------------------------------------------------------------The self-deluding masses can complain all they want about how Global Warming is a conspiracy, or a farce, or utter nonsense. The facts don't lie. We are heating our world up at a rate 30 TIMES faster than the last time we experienced global climate change, and even if we stop now, the changes we've made will continue to change the face of our planet for the worse.You can sit and wax philosophical for as long as you like about how it's a rouse to get us to fulfil whatever you think the government's agenda is today.I'll be comfortably in my wood-heated living room, having stocked up on food, when you finally learn the definition of a Heinrich Event first-hand.

We showed the 8th grade The Day After Tomorrow last week (this means I had to watch the whole movie through 3 times). It's gotten me thinking about climate changes, and how abrupt they can be. And now this has started worrying me more than I already had been...

"Some 220 square miles of ice has collapsed in Antarctica and an ice shelf about the size of Connecticut is 'hanging by a thread,' the British Antarctic Survey said Tuesday, blaming global warming."..."I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread -- we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be."

---------------------------------------------------------------The self-deluding masses can complain all they want about how Global Warming is a conspiracy, or a farce, or utter nonsense. The facts don't lie. We are heating our world up at a rate 30 TIMES faster than the last time we experienced global climate change, and even if we stop now, the changes we've made will continue to change the face of our planet for the worse.You can sit and wax philosophical for as long as you like about how it's a rouse to get us to fulfil whatever you think the government's agenda is today.I'll be comfortably in my wood-heated living room, having stocked up on food, when you finally learn the definition of a Heinrich Event first-hand.

durable's comment on a previous entry forced me to dig a little deeper into the policies and views of Barack Obama. The things I found both pleased and disturbed me. There are things that he supports that make me say, "Yeah! Go Obama!" (environment, energy, reproductive rights, military, education), and there are things that he support(s/ed) that make me frown and die a little inside.Namely:*Pro gun-control (he voted to ban semi-autos and make tougher restrictions for obtaining weapons)*Pro Patriot Act*Anti death penalty

I've never been a pessimist, however. So, rather than turn my back on it, I've gotten thinking.The last meeting of the Merrimack Valley Porcupines had a guest speaker talking about bird-dogging political candidates. I learned that not only can you force a politician to clarify their opinion on an issue, but you can sometimes nudge a change in their view as well. I like Obama; I think he's charismatic and forward-thinking and possibly too new into the political scene to be part of the Old Boys Club. I don't think that the Libertarian party has a snowball's chance of getting someone put into office (much to my chagrin), and I'd like to see someone put there whose policies I can stomach. So far, the Republicans have failed to produce.

If it weren't for these issues, I'd support Obama in a heartbeat. I want to want to support him. I think the biggest thing with me right now is that I think he's got a solid shot at the presidency-- if not this race, then the next one. When he gets to the Oval Office, I want him to take a little piece of Libertarianism with him. I want to make the best of our limited options.

I'm trying to figure out a way at this point to forulmate an argument/probing questions that I could use to change his mind on the issues where we differ.

Thoughts? Anyone want to hit the political trail in New England with me this year?

durable's comment on a previous entry forced me to dig a little deeper into the policies and views of Barack Obama. The things I found both pleased and disturbed me. There are things that he supports that make me say, "Yeah! Go Obama!" (environment, energy, reproductive rights, military, education), and there are things that he support(s/ed) that make me frown and die a little inside.Namely:*Pro gun-control (he voted to ban semi-autos and make tougher restrictions for obtaining weapons)*Pro Patriot Act*Anti death penalty

I've never been a pessimist, however. So, rather than turn my back on it, I've gotten thinking.The last meeting of the Merrimack Valley Porcupines had a guest speaker talking about bird-dogging political candidates. I learned that not only can you force a politician to clarify their opinion on an issue, but you can sometimes nudge a change in their view as well. I like Obama; I think he's charismatic and forward-thinking and possibly too new into the political scene to be part of the Old Boys Club. I don't think that the Libertarian party has a snowball's chance of getting someone put into office (much to my chagrin), and I'd like to see someone put there whose policies I can stomach. So far, the Republicans have failed to produce.

If it weren't for these issues, I'd support Obama in a heartbeat. I want to want to support him. I think the biggest thing with me right now is that I think he's got a solid shot at the presidency-- if not this race, then the next one. When he gets to the Oval Office, I want him to take a little piece of Libertarianism with him. I want to make the best of our limited options.

I'm trying to figure out a way at this point to forulmate an argument/probing questions that I could use to change his mind on the issues where we differ.

Thoughts? Anyone want to hit the political trail in New England with me this year?

justonejawa's post got me thinking about a license plate I saw yesterday. I was so enraged that I called Matt at work and just spewed venom for like 10 minutes.

It was yellow, and had 2 smiling, stick-figure faces on it. How cute! I thought it was like our one for "Keep Kids Safe". I drove a little closer so I could see the state, and realized that it was from Florida.Then I saw the tagline. You know, the part on the top that says, "Veteran" or "Save the Sound" or whatever is the witty state slogan to go with that plate and charitable fund. This one said,

"Choose Life"

I was/am appalled. For those of you who are unaware, this is the slogan of the national Anti-Abortion movement. I'm all about free speech. I'm all about opposing viewpoints. However--

If I went to Florida and asked them to make me a license plate that said, "Choose Abortion" or "It's MY CHOICE" to support my Pro-Choice group, I'd be looked at as if I had three heads, and then publicly stoned to death. States are not supposed to take sides on religious controversy. State funded programs (even those for charitable causes) are supposed to be unbiased and without religious bent. There are days when I wish great-great gramma Bush was pro-choice...

As far as Ann Coulter goes, she's a useless, ethnocentric, theocentric piece of garbage. I sinerely hope that when she dies, Jesus is there to shake his head and tsk at her for her hateful, narrow-minded ways. And I hope that day comes quickly.

justonejawa's post got me thinking about a license plate I saw yesterday. I was so enraged that I called Matt at work and just spewed venom for like 10 minutes.

It was yellow, and had 2 smiling, stick-figure faces on it. How cute! I thought it was like our one for "Keep Kids Safe". I drove a little closer so I could see the state, and realized that it was from Florida.Then I saw the tagline. You know, the part on the top that says, "Veteran" or "Save the Sound" or whatever is the witty state slogan to go with that plate and charitable fund. This one said,

"Choose Life"

I was/am appalled. For those of you who are unaware, this is the slogan of the national Anti-Abortion movement. I'm all about free speech. I'm all about opposing viewpoints. However--

If I went to Florida and asked them to make me a license plate that said, "Choose Abortion" or "It's MY CHOICE" to support my Pro-Choice group, I'd be looked at as if I had three heads, and then publicly stoned to death. States are not supposed to take sides on religious controversy. State funded programs (even those for charitable causes) are supposed to be unbiased and without religious bent. There are days when I wish great-great gramma Bush was pro-choice...

As far as Ann Coulter goes, she's a useless, ethnocentric, theocentric piece of garbage. I sinerely hope that when she dies, Jesus is there to shake his head and tsk at her for her hateful, narrow-minded ways. And I hope that day comes quickly.

I was going to just comment in his LJ, but it got a little out of hand, so I opted to make my own post.( But why is the _fun_ gone? )

Dangerous? Sometimes. But you know what? Parents and educators are a hell of a lot more trained (CPR, first aid) and prepared (cell phones, first aid kits) than they were when we were kids... and we lived. It's time for the censorship pendulum to start swinging the other way. We need to reclaim our right to our words and actions.

I was going to just comment in his LJ, but it got a little out of hand, so I opted to make my own post.( But why is the _fun_ gone? )

Dangerous? Sometimes. But you know what? Parents and educators are a hell of a lot more trained (CPR, first aid) and prepared (cell phones, first aid kits) than they were when we were kids... and we lived. It's time for the censorship pendulum to start swinging the other way. We need to reclaim our right to our words and actions.

OK, it was inevitable. I had to get on the American Indian rant soapbox at some point. Hold onto your hats folks.

I love the government. Were it not for them, I wouldn't have gotten the incredible training that I received in the Army, or the paycheck, or the unemployment insurance that I got when I became unemployed 2 years ago. They keep psychos off of the streets, and keep people from blowing up my car. They ensure my freedom to have this journal and bitch about whatever strikes me. They do a lot of good things.

I just hate the white perspective.

Please don't get me wrong. I know not all of the government is white, and I mean no offense to white folks (I, too, have white heritage). I just mean I hate the way that the government still retains the ridiculous Puritan perspective that it came here with 400 years ago.

Manifest destiny and pedigree are the 2 concepts that irk me the most. For the most part, people in the northeast aren't racist against Indians anymore, but that's not because they've stopped being racist. It's just because A.) it's now illegal to be a bigot and B.) they have successfully killed off and bred out so much of the Indian blood in the Northeast that they no longer recognize us when they see us. They just assume we're white like them, and that's just fine with them.

Now let me get to Manifest Destiny (henceforth M.D) and Pedigree.

Do we remember learning about M.D in history class? The Christians thought that God GAVE them North America to have. They apparently didn't care that North America was already occupied by millions of other folks, because these people were in their way. They were heathens, and did not acknowlege the Christian God, so they obviously didn't deserve to live in the land that the Christian God had given to the Christians. The pilgrims didn't come here because they _needed_ somewhere to go. They came looking for greener pastures. They found them, too, because the Natives actually gave enough of a shit about the Earth to KEEP it beautiful and lush. They understood the Balance.

The white people understood "I want it, I take it". "It's better than what I have, so I'm going to claim it for my own." "Why? Because God said so". After all, who is going to go up against the word of God?

Apparently their God didn't consult with the Gods of the millions of indigenous peoples living here.

So, like the plagues that they brought with them, the white folks came to the New World, having no idea how to live here, and begged the Indians to help them. Of course the Indians ablidged. After all, the Great Spirit wouldn't look too kindly on them for leaving a bunch of women, elderly, and children to starve and freeze to death in the harsh New England winter.

What did the whites give them in return for their saving their lives? They sent the Indians to "reservations", where their women, elderly, and children could starve and freeze to death after everything had been taken from them. And all this, because the whites thought they were more deserving. Look what they have done with this beautiful land, and you tell me if they were.

Now, they make it beauracratically impossible to be Indian. They killed off enough of us with guns, plague, and starvation, so that we can't retain "pure blood" without some funky, purposeful breeding. This brings me to Pedigree.

The whites brought with them a concept which was unfamiliar to the native people here. Bloodline. Indians had ancestors, but being of one tribe did not exclude you from becoming a part of another. It was a series of Nations, like we have today. Even white people were welcomed into the extended family which was a Native American tribe. Who cares what your skin color is, or who your parents were. You are a member of this tribe. Period.

Then the whites said "Well, your mother was white, and your father was Navajo, so you're only HALF Navajo". What kind of nonsense is that?

How can someone be only half part of a family? You may have more than one family, but you are still fully a part of both of them.

Why did they encourage this concept? Because by diluting the "bloodline", and not allowing other people to become part of the tribe without proper heritage, you set in motion the extinction of an entire culture. You need to bring in outside people to replenish the gene pool, for crying out loud. Eventually, there will not be enough full-bloods left to constitute having a tribe (it is federally mandated that you need a certain number of full-bloods, or they cease to recognise you as a tribe). And then, my friends, they have won.

"If we can't get them out, we'll BREED them out"

So, for anyone who tells me or my brothers or sisters that we're not Indian because we don't have enough "blood" to be part of that nation, take your pedigree and stick it up your ass. You have no right to deny me my family and my recognition.

OK, it was inevitable. I had to get on the American Indian rant soapbox at some point. Hold onto your hats folks.

I love the government. Were it not for them, I wouldn't have gotten the incredible training that I received in the Army, or the paycheck, or the unemployment insurance that I got when I became unemployed 2 years ago. They keep psychos off of the streets, and keep people from blowing up my car. They ensure my freedom to have this journal and bitch about whatever strikes me. They do a lot of good things.

I just hate the white perspective.

Please don't get me wrong. I know not all of the government is white, and I mean no offense to white folks (I, too, have white heritage). I just mean I hate the way that the government still retains the ridiculous Puritan perspective that it came here with 400 years ago.

Manifest destiny and pedigree are the 2 concepts that irk me the most. For the most part, people in the northeast aren't racist against Indians anymore, but that's not because they've stopped being racist. It's just because A.) it's now illegal to be a bigot and B.) they have successfully killed off and bred out so much of the Indian blood in the Northeast that they no longer recognize us when they see us. They just assume we're white like them, and that's just fine with them.

Now let me get to Manifest Destiny (henceforth M.D) and Pedigree.

Do we remember learning about M.D in history class? The Christians thought that God GAVE them North America to have. They apparently didn't care that North America was already occupied by millions of other folks, because these people were in their way. They were heathens, and did not acknowlege the Christian God, so they obviously didn't deserve to live in the land that the Christian God had given to the Christians. The pilgrims didn't come here because they _needed_ somewhere to go. They came looking for greener pastures. They found them, too, because the Natives actually gave enough of a shit about the Earth to KEEP it beautiful and lush. They understood the Balance.

The white people understood "I want it, I take it". "It's better than what I have, so I'm going to claim it for my own." "Why? Because God said so". After all, who is going to go up against the word of God?

Apparently their God didn't consult with the Gods of the millions of indigenous peoples living here.

So, like the plagues that they brought with them, the white folks came to the New World, having no idea how to live here, and begged the Indians to help them. Of course the Indians ablidged. After all, the Great Spirit wouldn't look too kindly on them for leaving a bunch of women, elderly, and children to starve and freeze to death in the harsh New England winter.

What did the whites give them in return for their saving their lives? They sent the Indians to "reservations", where their women, elderly, and children could starve and freeze to death after everything had been taken from them. And all this, because the whites thought they were more deserving. Look what they have done with this beautiful land, and you tell me if they were.

Now, they make it beauracratically impossible to be Indian. They killed off enough of us with guns, plague, and starvation, so that we can't retain "pure blood" without some funky, purposeful breeding. This brings me to Pedigree.

The whites brought with them a concept which was unfamiliar to the native people here. Bloodline. Indians had ancestors, but being of one tribe did not exclude you from becoming a part of another. It was a series of Nations, like we have today. Even white people were welcomed into the extended family which was a Native American tribe. Who cares what your skin color is, or who your parents were. You are a member of this tribe. Period.

Then the whites said "Well, your mother was white, and your father was Navajo, so you're only HALF Navajo". What kind of nonsense is that?

How can someone be only half part of a family? You may have more than one family, but you are still fully a part of both of them.

Why did they encourage this concept? Because by diluting the "bloodline", and not allowing other people to become part of the tribe without proper heritage, you set in motion the extinction of an entire culture. You need to bring in outside people to replenish the gene pool, for crying out loud. Eventually, there will not be enough full-bloods left to constitute having a tribe (it is federally mandated that you need a certain number of full-bloods, or they cease to recognise you as a tribe). And then, my friends, they have won.

"If we can't get them out, we'll BREED them out"

So, for anyone who tells me or my brothers or sisters that we're not Indian because we don't have enough "blood" to be part of that nation, take your pedigree and stick it up your ass. You have no right to deny me my family and my recognition.

I've been trying to put a point on this concept for quite some time now. People have such a hard time with other people who are not easily classified. What I mean is, I see you, and by your skin color, hair, eyes, demeanor, etc. I think that I can tell a lot about you. Most folks are easily identifiable as: male or female; black, white, Asian, American Indian, or Latino; etc. It's when we start existing outside of the box that others get annoyed (what do you mean you're a man?! you look like a woman!)

Let me try and break it down a little bit:

People have a hard time with homosexuals, bisexuals, transvestites, transsexuals, transgendered people, and anyone else whose gender or sexual preference is not immediately discernable by looking at them. I don't think it's because God says their ways are impure or whatever the lame-o excuse is this week. I think it's because they like to be able to judge a book by it's cover. They like to look at you and say "You look like a woman, so you must be a woman, which means you like men" (which means I can potentially get into your pants)

I call it a lame-o excuse, because I don't think a God who was anti-homosexuality would ever put a person on the planet who was transgendered (a "hermaphrodite"). That would be like damning them to a life without physical love at all, because either way, they would be entering into a homosexual act. (that's also why doctors feel the need to "choose" a gender for these people, rather than allowing them to live with all of the parts they were born with). And it's obviously not possible for these people to concede that their God could have made a mistake. So, by their own logic, their God must make hetero-, homo-, and bi-sexual people.

Another example: people have a hard time with other folks who choose to identify themselves as any particular race, if they don't "look" like that race. i.e your skin isn't dark enough to call yourself black, your skin isn't light enough to call yourself white, you don't "look" American Indian, what-have-you. Why? What business is it of these people if you aren't easily stereotyped?

I have a friend who looks Asian but is actually Portugese. An old friend of mine looks Latino but is actually mulatto (and Jewish, none-the-less). I am Indian and Irish/Scottish, but people have told me that I look Ukrainian. The stereotyped Irish person is red haired and green eyed, right? By what I've read, that's because the NORSE passed on those traits to the Irish when they conquered the British Isles. So how are true Irish "supposed" to look? and why do we give a shit?

People need to get over their need to make opinions about others prior to getting to know them, and we need to stop _telling_ people who they are, rather than letting them come to that conclusion on their own. LET PEOPLE BE WHO THEY WERE BORN TO BE, NOT WHO YOU WANT THEM TO BE BECAUSE IT'S EASIER FOR YOU TO STEREOTYPE THEM.

I've been trying to put a point on this concept for quite some time now. People have such a hard time with other people who are not easily classified. What I mean is, I see you, and by your skin color, hair, eyes, demeanor, etc. I think that I can tell a lot about you. Most folks are easily identifiable as: male or female; black, white, Asian, American Indian, or Latino; etc. It's when we start existing outside of the box that others get annoyed (what do you mean you're a man?! you look like a woman!)

Let me try and break it down a little bit:

People have a hard time with homosexuals, bisexuals, transvestites, transsexuals, transgendered people, and anyone else whose gender or sexual preference is not immediately discernable by looking at them. I don't think it's because God says their ways are impure or whatever the lame-o excuse is this week. I think it's because they like to be able to judge a book by it's cover. They like to look at you and say "You look like a woman, so you must be a woman, which means you like men" (which means I can potentially get into your pants)

I call it a lame-o excuse, because I don't think a God who was anti-homosexuality would ever put a person on the planet who was transgendered (a "hermaphrodite"). That would be like damning them to a life without physical love at all, because either way, they would be entering into a homosexual act. (that's also why doctors feel the need to "choose" a gender for these people, rather than allowing them to live with all of the parts they were born with). And it's obviously not possible for these people to concede that their God could have made a mistake. So, by their own logic, their God must make hetero-, homo-, and bi-sexual people.

Another example: people have a hard time with other folks who choose to identify themselves as any particular race, if they don't "look" like that race. i.e your skin isn't dark enough to call yourself black, your skin isn't light enough to call yourself white, you don't "look" American Indian, what-have-you. Why? What business is it of these people if you aren't easily stereotyped?

I have a friend who looks Asian but is actually Portugese. An old friend of mine looks Latino but is actually mulatto (and Jewish, none-the-less). I am Indian and Irish/Scottish, but people have told me that I look Ukrainian. The stereotyped Irish person is red haired and green eyed, right? By what I've read, that's because the NORSE passed on those traits to the Irish when they conquered the British Isles. So how are true Irish "supposed" to look? and why do we give a shit?

People need to get over their need to make opinions about others prior to getting to know them, and we need to stop _telling_ people who they are, rather than letting them come to that conclusion on their own. LET PEOPLE BE WHO THEY WERE BORN TO BE, NOT WHO YOU WANT THEM TO BE BECAUSE IT'S EASIER FOR YOU TO STEREOTYPE THEM.